Re: New year, new name!

[ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès)]

Andreas Enge <andreas@enge.fr> skribis:

> On Mon, Jan 05, 2015 at 10:09:09AM -0500, Thompson, David wrote:
>> I don't like "Guixotic" very much.
>
> Me neither; it apparently refers to Don Quixote, who is generally considered
> as a ridiculous person disconnected from the preoccupations of its time. The
> main episode that comes to mind is that of the windmills; I do not think we
> should leave the impression that Guix is fighting a fight that it is bound
> to lose, and that moreover is ridiculous from the start.

The idea of RMS is that GNU is sometimes described by opponents as
quixotic, and that we would make fun of that insult by internalizing it
(pretty much like geeks have done with “geek”.)

BTW, I didn’t know this is a relatively common adjective in English;
WordNet has this definition:

  Overview of adj quixotic

  The adj quixotic has 1 sense (first 1 from tagged texts)

  1. (2) quixotic, romantic, wild-eyed -- (not sensible about practical
  matters; idealistic and unrealistic; "as quixotic as a restoration of
  medieval knighthood"; "a romantic disregard for money"; "a wild-eyed
  dream of a world state")

With that definition in mind, it’s clear IMO that “Guixotic” is ironic.

> If there needs to be a separate name, I think we should spend more time
> searching for a better one.

Honestly, I think the discussion must end, because it’s becoming toxic.

Again, the idea is that it will not change much beyond the name of the
USB installation tarballs and a bunch of references in the manual.  The
goal is to be viewed as “GNU’s reference distro.”

Thanks,
Ludo’.